Radio Free Silver Lake

Album Preview: Halfbluud

By Kathryn Pinto

This year splinter projects have been coming out in droves from the former Red Cortezes, one of the most promising  to date from frontman Harley Prechtel-Cortez . The new bedroom project called Halfbluud will release a six-song EP due out January 15. You can hear the songs live, Halfbluud plays tonight (like..now!) at Harvard & Stone, and you can preview the EP until Friday on bandcamp.

Red Cortez by any other name (Just An Animal, The Weather Underground, The Turncoats) disbanded early this year after a long and storied career that included opening for Morrissey, national tours, song placements on TV, playing Bonaroo, and most dear to our suadero-loving hearts, playing the Taco Zone Benefit in 2009.

Show Spotlight & Ticket Giveaway: Earlimart, Blake Hazard (of the Submarines), Blonde Summer at the Satellite Friday 9/28/12

By Kathryn Pinto

Silver Lake veterans and Ship Collective founders Earlimart play Friday at the Satellite. Blake Hazard of the Submarines and Blonde Summer open.

Aaron Espinoza and Ariana Murray return to their lush sun-kissed arrangements tinged with regret, a golden California sound with System Preferences just released on their  Ship label. The album is their first in four years spent on projects that ranged from collaborating with Jason Lytle (Grandaddy) on Admiral Radley to scoring film and television projects to producing records for acts like Ben Gibbard and the Henry Clay people.

Radio Free Silver Lake has a pair of tickets for one lucky reader (and a guest). To enter send an email with "Earlimart at the Satellite" in the subject line to RFSLpinto[at]gmail[dot]com OR @reply me at twitter @kpinto, or by 5pm, Thursday  September 24.

 

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Earlimart plays Friday September 25 at the Satellite, 1717 Silverlake Blvd, LA 90027, with Blake Hazard of the Submarines and Blonde Summer. $10, 21+, Doors at 8:30pm.

 

Monolators 'Ten Years of Tears' Cassette Giveaway

By Kathryn Pinto

The Monolators celebrate their tenth anniversary with a massive compilation cassette, Ten Years of Tears that includes two new tracks and 17 classics released on cassette through the Vanity Projects label. The project will be unveiled with an ALL AGES release party with performances by the Monolators and special guests Geoff Geis and Kissing Cousins at pehrspace Saturday night September 22. RFSL has a two copies of the retrospective cassette,  one for each of two lucky Radio Free Silver Lake readers.

Vanity Projects’ Geoff Geis said of the Monolators, “Ten Years of Tears celebrates the first decade of existence for every Angelino’s favorite husband/wife garage rock band, Highland Park’s the Monolators. It's hard to overstate the importance of the Monolators to LA's DIY underground.”

To enter send an email with your full name and "Monolators Cassette" in the subject line and name your favorite Monolators song or most memorable Monolators show  to RFSLpinto[at]gmail[dot]com OR @reply me at twitter @kpinto, by 4pm, Friday  September 21. Winners MUST claim the cassette at the release show. Good luck to all, and hope you can make it out to the show.

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The Monolators play a release show for their tenth anniversary album Ten Years of Tears Saturday September 22 at pehrspace, with Geoff Geis and Kissing Cousins in support. Show starts at 8pm, $5, ALL AGES.

Ten Years of Tears from the Monolators is available for pre-order through Vanity Projects.

Album Giveaway: Tommy Santee Klaws - Of Light

By Kathryn Pinto

The good people at the Echo Country Outpost  are offering two free copies of  Tommy Santee Klaws' new album Of Light to two of our Radio Free Silver Lake readers. For this quick turn-around giveaway we'll give one CD to the first person to enter and the other by random drawing. Winners can pick up their album at the record release show this Saturday September 8 at the Echo Country Outpost.

 To enter the giveaway send an e-mail to "RFSLpinto(at)gmail(dot)com”  Include "Tommy Santee Klaws Album Giveaway" in the subject line and your full name (and any other comments you may have) in the e-mail text. You can also enter via twitter @kpinto.  Please be certain to enter by 5pm tomorrow  Friday September 7.

Festival Report: Echo Park Rising + Torches at The Satellite (8/25/12)

by Brad Roberts

Saturday was like an extended trip down the rabbit hole, keeping one step ahead of the next band I wanted to see. The day started out normal enough, breakfast, blogging, rolling preparatory elements, etc. and boarding a bus down Sunset to the east side for Echo Park Rising. Once I figured out the schedule and where I wanted to see who, I decided my best course of action was to begin at the western edge of the festival and slowly work my way east. 

Arriving around 2, I went into Taix to find the Champagne Room where The Far West were scheduled to play. Kevin Bronson (Buzzbands) was curating the activities here and the line up was most impressive, but after a rousing set of alt country indie by The Far West, I was off to Echoplex to catch some garage rock by The Dead Ships, before heading upstairs to The Echo to see Seasons. 

By now the neighborhood was filling up and there was a good crowd for Seasons at 3:30 which was payed off with a really terrific set by the hard working band. In fact their violinist, Kaitlin Wolfberg was all over the place performing in different bands, and ending up at the wedding party that night at The Bootleg for Jacob Dillan Summers and Caitlin Dwyer (Congratulations to you both), which I couldn't attend owing to the Torches show at The Satellite...also that night. 

Giveaway & Show Spotlight: Lonesome Heroes, Western States Motel, Olentangy John at the Outpost

By Kathryn Pinto

Indie and western duo the Lonesome Heroes came to our attention when their guitarist and singer Rich Russell shared some of his teriffic photos of the Lonely Wild's show at South By Southwest in Austin this spring. One of the best things about being part of the music community is that you can reach out to someone as a photographer and  it turns out that he his own excellent band and--extra bonus--the other half of the duo is a talented and inventive visual artist, too. This Saturday May 26 the Lonesome Heroes play the Echo Country Outpost along with perennial RFSL favorites The Western States Motel and Olentangy John. Lonesome Heroes' singer/dobro player Landry McMeans has a weeklong exhibiton of cardboard relief art works at the Outpost from May 21-27. Set times are:  6pm-Art reception/ BBQ, 8pm- Olentangy John, 9pm-Lonesome Heroes 10pm- Western States Motel

The Lonesome Heroes come to Los Angeles as part of a three week tour in support of their debut full-length Daydream Western, a deserted highway stretch of country-tinged indie rock winding through the places in between Brooklyn and Texas.

In celebration of this show the Lonesome Heroes are giving away two Lonesome Heroes gift packs that include a CD, Landry McMeans art print and a big Texas welcome to the show (the Echo Country Outpost is a non-profit, donation-only space). To enter, send an email with your full name and any comments to RFSLpinto@gmail.com, include "Lonesome Heroes Saturday at the Outpost" in the subject header. We need to receive your email by NOON Friday. Winners can pick up their gift packs at the Outpost the night of the show. Good luck to all and hope to see you there.

 

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The Lonesome Heroes play the Echo Country Outpost Saturday, May 26 with the Western States Motel and Olentangy John. The show starts at 6pm on the patio with BBQ, refreshments and bands. Entry is by donation only, but $10 donations are warmly appreciated. 

 

Music We Like: Little Red Lung (EP)

By Kathryn Pinto

Genre-defying Little Red Lung came to us not through Zoë-Ruth Erwin, front and center of the project, but because of drummer Nathan Kondor who also plays with RFSL faves George Glass. George Glass is dyed-in-the-wool boy rock—the pleasure in the music is in seeing how far down and around the block a guy can take a guitar line. It’s like trading baseball cards, beauty in the detail and knowledge of minutiae, which on its own terms is an excellent, but quite distinct flavor.

Little Red Lung, who release their self-titled EP at The Satellite tonight, is something else entirely. It’s about the broad epic sweep of sound, aural space not as a small soundproofed practice space, but a sweeping cloud-churned landscape that requires a wide horizontal expanse. The self-titled EP is dramatic and orchestral in its breadth and ambitious in its construction. Credits include strings, brass and a percussion section of marimba, glockenspiel, vibraphone and woodblocks in addition to drums. These arrangements evoke a deep dark velvety chocolate night, a gypsy feel with a nod to Devotchka, the 7”, 45 rpm operas of Roy Orbison, and the windblown moors of Kate Bush.

You’d swear that Erwin has the kind of voice you’d have if yours would only cooperate. Her vocals play as an instrument, their power to convey emotion in restraint--to connect with the listener by holding back, rather than through a struggle against the body to get a sound and a feeling out. On songs like “Ink Blot” and “Into a Landfill” lyrics are ambiguous, yet rich with imagery that suggests misinterpretations, miscommunication and love gone wrong, and in “Into a Landfill” a wish that the narrator could have identified deal breaking flaws a bit earlier in the story. This is an outstanding record from a band that is not afraid to be itself, ambitious and unreserved.

 

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Little Red Lung plays a record release show tonight, Thursday May 10 at The Satellite, 1717 Silverlake Blvd, LA, 90026, presented by LA Underground. New self-titled EP available at: iTunes, Amazon, Bandcamp, and littleredlung.com. Seasons, Dorian Wood, and San Francesca open. Doors at 8:30 pm, show: 9:00 pm $8.00, 21+.

Album Giveaway: LA Font, Races, NO, In the Shadow of the Mountain

By Kathryn Pinto

Sometimes we wish everyone could win the giveaways, so in that spirit these albums are available to all. Let me bring your attention to a handful of albums and EPs available to you as a free download (or streaming). Follow the links on band names to the download pages. In addition to LA Bands, there are a couple in there from Boise (Idaho--the one with all the potatoes and sugar beets), which is hosting its inaugural Treefort Music Fest this weekend. The festival lineup includes of Montreal, Built to Spill, Blitzen Trapper, AU, The Parson Red Heads and a many more bands the Northwest.

In the Shadow of the Mountain
Barn Owl Records out of Boise, Idaho is offering up several free downloads on the occasion of the Treefort Music Festival. One of the best is In the Shadow of the Mountain, a two-piece from Boise who play a genre-defying sound that runs the gamut from experimental outer sound to melodic vocal lines to jazz percussion. The duo plays a rare live show Saturday afternoon at the Treefort Music Festival.

In The Shadow of the Mountain - hey hey by Treefort Music Fest

 

Races
Races is streaming their forthcoming album Year Of The Witch which will be released  March 27th on Frenchkiss Records. In support of the album Races embarks on a West Coast tour next week, playing an album release show March 30 at The Echo.

 

LA Font
LA Font offer up a digital album (free or name your price) on their bandcamp page. If you missed their excellent show last Monday at The Echo you can catch them  tonight at Rafa's Lounge in Echo Park.

NO
Despite returning from SXSW only hours earlier, NO filled the room for their most recent Monday residency show at The Echo, many in the audience (who presumably already downloaded the free EP) singing along. They play the final night of their March residency Monday night at The Echo.

 

Album Giveaway: Western States Motel - Freeway Freeway Riverbed

By Kathryn Pinto

Radio Free Silver Lake likes you. We're a little shy, but as a little token of our affection we want to give two lucky readers a copy of the Western States Motel's latest album Freeway Freeway Riverbed, courtesy of the band. We're excited to share this album with you. Radio Freee Silver Lake named the album of one of LA's Best of 2011, saying that:

WSM lead Carl Jordan is a virtual maestro at weaving surprisingly complex arrangements with just a handful of tools. Evoking a strong American Southwestern atmosphere, the tales of life on the road offer more plain-spoken, unpretentious observations aided by the lilting and very catchy melodies. And seeing the songs brought to life by a full band at their November On The Rox residency showed off the material's durability.

To enter the giveaway, send an email to RFSLpinto(at)gmail(dot)com with "Western States Motel Album Giveaway" in the subject header and your full name in the message text. Send it by NOON, Tuesday February 21. Good luck to all.

Sweet Giveaway (Tix and stuff): KROQ Locals Only Presents: Young The Giant, Vanaprasta, and SMILES at The Roxy

By Joel Robinson

A sweet giveaway just in to us here at Radio Free Silver Lake. LA locals, including local faves Vanaprasta, will be working the KROQ Locals Only presentation over at The Roxy this Saturday. The full night includes Young The Giant, Vanaprasta, and SMILES.

Thanks to some friends, RFSL is able to offer free entry to a winner and guest to catch this great night of fun.  In addition, our lucky winner will also receive his/her very own copy of the Vanaprasta 7" Forming The Shapes.

Have a look at all going on here and then get in on the mix. Drop an e-mail to "RFSLjoel(at)gmail(dot)com” that includes "Vanaprasta at The Roxy" in the subject line and your full name (and any other comments you may have) in the e-mail text. You will need to get that e-mail to us by NOON Tomorrow (Friday).



Yes, short notice. But well worth a bit of a rush for a chance like this. -jdr